"Alright everyone, let's go, shall we?" Eisen asked with a slight smile as he looked at the large group in front of them before they all then made their way toward the church that was a little bit of a walk away. On their way there, Brody began to tell the old man a bit about what he managed to find out about the 'Champion' he would be fighting against, "There are a few different people that I might face today, though I don't know who it's gonna end up being. Xenia told me that a regular Mage isn't great for a 1v1, so it can only be one of two people. One guy that's called a 'Fiery Berserker,' and one that's called the 'Flash Swordsman.' It seems that's what their occupations are, so we have a rough idea what their fighting styles are."
The Demon-Orc explained, before quickly continuing. "The problem is their level. Apparently, we level up more easily, right? And the Lord, or rather the adviser, maybe underestimating us, but even then, combatants that spent their whole life training and fighting must be pretty high-level, right?"
Slowly, Eisen shook his head, unsure whether this was the case. "Maybe not. As you said, we level up more easily for sure. The majority of people I've met are below level 100. You're at 148 right now, correct? They might not be that far away. But I'm not sure. I'll inspect them with my 'truth-seeing eyes' and let you know, don't worry. You will at least have a rough idea of their strength then." Eisen told him, looking around to make sure nobody that wasn't supposed to could see him, before activating his demonic transformation since they were getting quite close to the church.
"Thanks. I doubt I'll lose anyway because there are still a lot of ways to overpower an opponent that's much stronger than you." Brody said with a smirk, quickly continuing as he showed his tusks in a wide grin. "Actually, I'm kind of excited about that." He chuckled as he thought about the fact that the people here in this game world could be much stronger than humanly possible in the real world, and that's precisely that fact turned this all into a whole new realm of combat along the lines of what one could usually only see in movies.
"Don't worry; I'm positive that you would never lose in a one on one," Eisen said with a smile as he moved his hand through his beard before the group reached the church, where quite a few people had already gathered.
The first ones that came up to the group were Eisen's three apprentices. "Hello there, you three. I hope you managed to prepare for today properly." The old man told them, before they all quickly nodded, albeit while being a bit nervous about what was going to happen today.
"Yes, we did… But Eisen, are you sure this is a good idea?" Rouge asked concerned, before Eisen nodded, leaving Koro to smile as if that answer was obvious. "Of course, Rouge! Take a look at Eisen, someone with a stature like him must also be skilled at combat! And you know who he really is, so-" Koro exclaimed, quite clearly trying to suck up to Eisen a little bit after his failure during the tests, but was quickly interrupted by precisely the person that he wanted to impress.
"Koro, I'm not the one that will do the fighting. My friend here will." Eisen explained, holding his hand toward Brody who was standing next to him. "I thought I mentioned something that I wouldn't be fighting?" Eisen thought to himself, while Koro scratched his cheek embarrassedly, while Parc opened his eyes in surprise as he noticed something.
"He's wearing the gloves you made!" He exclaimed before Eisen nodded his head with light laughter. "Yes, I made them for him, after all." The old man told his apprentices before they all made their way further toward the church, where the Lord was already waiting with the man that probably was his adviser next to him. Once Eisen activated his mana-sight, he could immediately tell that Xenia was 100 percent correct with her deduction that he was not a good person in the slightest.
The reason for him knowing that was quite simple. The Adviser's mana was wholly and utterly pitch-black, so much that Eisen wasn't even able to see through it. So, he turned over to Xenia, who was wearing the mana-optics with a deep frown. "Xenia." He said before the High-Elf immediately understood what Eisen was trying to say as she nodded.
"That's him. And it's just as I thought…" Xenia said, while Eisen nodded and walked up to the Lord with a deep frown together with Brody, while the rest stayed a little bit away to let the two of them talk everything out.
"There you are, Demon," Zaran said as he crossed his arms with a deep frown, and Eisen nodded slowly. "Yes, here we are. Here is the one that will be fighting in my stead." He explained and Zaran looked over to a guard standing next to him. "Get everything ready, and tell Polar to come out." He commanded, and Eisen looked over toward Brody, who was smirking lightly.
"So it's the Fiery Berserker, huh?" He said, surprising Eisen at first since the name 'Polar' said anything else but 'Fiery,' although Eisen understood the Berserker's name when he saw him. He was a tall man, around the same height as Eisen, who had white fur growing all around his face and on his arms as well as two round ears on his head, which made Eisen guess that he was a Polar-Bear Beastperson.
"Yes, it is the Fiery Berserker indeed. We have arranged a small spot behind the church, and then the duel will start as overseen by a Priest of Gonor." The Lord explained as he turned around and the small crowd, mostly made up of the inhabitants of the different church-facilities, followed behind.
It seemed like they built a small 'arena' thereby digging a large pit using earth-magic, which they were still working on, and strengthened it a bit by then turning the walls and ground into flat rock-surfaces.
"We will begin in 30 minutes prepare; however, you wish until then," Zaran explained, and then Eisen and Brody made their way into the pit to do just that.
"Alright, do you need any help with anything? Like warming up?" Eisen asked before Brody slowly shook his head. "Not really, thanks though. But you can help me with tactics. As I said, I couldn't really see that much magic up until now, so it would be pretty helpful if you can give me some pointers." Brody asked before Eisen slowly nodded before he looked over to the other side of the pit, where Polar was already standing, leaning against the wall. Using his 'Truth-Seeing-Eyes,' Eisen then made the basic information of the Beastperson appear.
[Polar]
[Race – Beastperson (Polar-Bear)][Occupation - Fiery Berserker][Level - 213]
"Hmm, it's a bigger difference than I thought. Your opponent's level 213 right now. And as expected, his mana has a light red tint to it, so it's Fire Element Mana. Although, it's somewhat layered, and there's a thin layer of blue-ish mana in the center… It looks kind of like Dien's Frost-Mana. I think he may have a pretty special element." Eisen explained before Brody smirked excitedly.
"So he has both Fire and Ice?" He asked, and Eisen nodded. "I think so. At least he doesn't have a regular monotone magic element, so you should watch out."
"For sure, don't worry," Brody responded, and the two of them began strategizing at least a little bit, and soon enough, it was time for the Duel to start.
So, Eisen made his way out of the pit before a Priest began to speak. "Under the eyes of the God of Combat Gonor, I now announce this to be a fair Duel between Brody and Polar. Outside actions that benefit either of these two will cause the individual benefitted an instant disqualification. No potions of any kind are allowed in this Duel. However, all types of abilities are allowed. Due to both parties allowing it, both brought their individually owned equipment. If Brody wins, the Golden-Eyed Demon is allowed to decide the fate of this church. As well as Lord Zaran, If Polar is to win, Lord Zaran will banish those that supported the Demon from this town." The Priest summed up in a manner that was quite different from what happened during the Duel that Eisen himself was a part of back in Melroe. As Eisen was thinking this, the priest continued.
"This Duel will end if either party gives up or is unable to continue fighting. If either party kills the other within this fight, it means immediate disqualification for the former. This Duel will begin once this blade touches the ground." As the Priest said this, he held his hand forward and summoned a golden ornamental sword, which seemed to be the Symbol of Gonor, before it hovered above the pit.
Slowly, the Priest began to count down as both Brody and Polar got ready, the latter moving his fingers around to ready his hands with his thick gauntlets, one deep red and one light blue.
And as the countdown reached zero, the sword dropped down into the pit and the moment it hit the rocky ground, the two duelists jumped forward as the sword disappeared into nothingness. While Brody seemed to move through completely pure physical force, although Eisen and the others from his group knew that this was done through the support of his Yang Energy, Polar used flames to propel himself forward, and as the two of them met in the center of the pit, they both swung their fists forward.
The moment they met, a small shockwave could be felt as it shot outward throughout the area as shards of ice flew around and stuck to the rock walls. Surprisingly enough, Brody managed to keep up when it came to physical force, although this made sense when one thought about it.
Brody had a type of energy that inwardly strengthened him, as well as two racial skills that increased his physical prowess, and was primarily focused on his physical stats, while Polar also had an increase to his mental stats and had an element that was used to create fire or ice outwardly. Because of these facts, their current physical strength seemed to be somewhat matched.
But since Polar had his unique element, he managed to turn it to his favor quite quickly. Immediately after the first encounter, Brody's arm was covered in ice that immediately restrained him, but in turn, the Beastperson was pushed backward a slight bit. Using his flames, he shot forward once more and manipulated his body mid-air to give a roundhouse-kick Brody.
However, Brody didn't let that happen. Polar seemed to have focused on Strength and Endurance in regards to his physical stats, and his Agility was apparently quite low, as Brody's increased movement speed through his skill and his energy helped him see through his opponents' movement quite easily.
So, Brody punched Polar's leg as it moved downward with his Yin Energy faced in the opposite direction that the leg was moving, causing a strong force to counteract the speed and slow him down to a halt. Of course, since Polar was moving with the help of his flames, he soon sped up again, but at that point Brody already grabbed onto Polar's leg and swung the large man's body forward, completely slamming him into the ground, causing cracks to form through the impact.
Immediately afterward, Polar froze the ground underneath himself and Brody to mess up his opponent's footing, before the Beastperson then twisted his body in a circular motion once more supported by his flames. This force threw Brody away toward the wall, which was supported by a strong kick from the leg that Brody was hanging onto as he lost his grip because Polar's leg entirely iced up, making Brody slide right off.
But instead of letting himself hit the rock wall, Brody managed to twist his body mid-air so that his feet would touch the wall first, allowing him to reduce the force of the impact and then immediately jump off the wall back toward Polar before Brody turned this fight to his favor.